Whole Slow Roasted Chicken

Our answer

Nigella's Slow Roasted Garlic And Lemon Chicken (from NIGELLA SUMMER) cooks a jointed chicken (or chicken thighs) slowly with whole cloves of garlic and chunks of fresh lemon. During cooking the chicken becomes meltingly tender and the garlic and lemon both caramelize, becoming sweet and more intense.

We suspect that it is possible to use a whole chicken, but the cooking time will be longer. Make sure that you can cover the chicken with a large piece of foil and seal the foil tightly around the roasting pan, so that the cooking juices don't evaporate. It is likely that the chicken will need to be cooked with the foil on for about 2½ hours. After this time uncover the chicken and check that it is cooked. If you pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a sharp knife then the juices should run clear, with no traces of blood, or the temperature should register at least 75°C/165°F on an instant read thermometer. If it is not quite cooked then re-cover the chicken and cook for an extra 15 minutes before checking again. When the chicken has cooked, increase the oven temperature to 200°C/180°C Fan/400°F and continue as directed in the recipe. However, as we have not tried the recipe using a whole chicken we are unable to guarantee the results.